Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[sangofe]

Wow! That Ad was well unusual to say the least.
Also, those people not taking proper care with the cases and discs, it's like why don't you use it as toilet paper

They do that on purpose so that people re buy the sets when they no longer work.

[Metalwario64]

I could point out a million things that have already been pointed out about that commercial, but does FUNimation really think that the casual DBZ fans are huge anime fans? Most casual fans see it as something apart from anime... They don't go to crazy conventions dressed as Super Saiyan Homer or whatever...

[SaiyamanMS]

I love how the other DVDs on the right hand side of the guy's shelf are still in their shrink wrap.

[MarcFBR]

I love how the other DVDs on the right hand side of the guy's shelf are still in their shrink wrap.

As an anime fan, that also knows many other anime fans... that happens a LOT.

[ErikB]

I'm just curious why you would ever line up the Orange Bricks like that without taking off their slip covers... >_>

[90sDBZ]

I like the trailer. It's a welcome change from the constant "This is the definitive ultimate release of Dragonball Z!". And it showed off stuff from the show other than the action. We all know by now that DBZ is about the action. We don't need to see yet another trailer of Goku fighting Vegeta. This also trailer concentrated on the fans. I like how it showed that DBZ can be enjoyed by people of all ages and can be fun to watch together with the family. The trailer wasn't overly serious like some of the others. It was very laid back and effectively did bring back feelings of nostalgia from watching the show back in the day. And I liked the song. It felt almost like an old Toonami commercial.

[Gaffer Tape]

I mostly like the trailer too, except for the terrible, painful music in it. I like the direction they're taking it in, that of warm, fuzzy nostalgia, but I think that largely has to do with backlash of the content. People here have made the point that you see next to no footage of the actual product in this trailer. Compare that to the last one with all of its "Future" and modern audience crap. So I think they're keeping what they've done to the product as quiet as possible now and just trying to bank on, "Hey, remember this? You should buy it because you liked it as a kid! Never mind what it looks like!"

[Fennekin]

My review of the commercial:
0:07: So this was filmed in a store called Anime Pop. Another way we can boycott this release is by no longer shopping there!
0:12: It's funny how the showed the Orange Bricks and not the Dragon Boxes or Level Sets. Are they trying to act like those never happened?
0:18: Is he spilling milk all over the Blu-Ray case? If he is, that's not going to make me want to buy the product.
0:19: The boy wearing the Super Saiyan hair is playing with what I'm guessing is an iPad while the other son and father are watching the DVD. And how is this supposed to convey excitement for the Blu-Ray when the boy would rather play games on his iPad than watch the Blu-Ray.
0:22: That guy is WAY too excited for this DVD. I'm not a huge DBZ fan, but is this how most fans would react to the Blu-Ray?
0:36: Who's the figurine in the far right corner? I don't recall him being in DBZ, but I'm probably wrong.
0:37: Then this appears on my screen:

I did not need to see Michael Jackson with Vegeta's hair!
0:38: Now they're playing with the figurines? THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE Blu-Ray! All we've had so far is small pictures of the Blu-Ray to the side of this nonsense!
0:42: Small Piccolo fighting Vegeta Jackson? At least the trailer is almost over...
0:46: Well some random girl with huge white gloves just punched Vegeta Jackson. I think she might be Videl or Launch?
0:49: Now there's a boy wearing an orange gi with MASSIVE arms. If he's pretending to be Goku, he's failing.
0:53: Now we have... Homer Simpson as Vegeta?

God knows who he's fighting, definitely not any DBZ character I remember.
0:58: We finish off with the dog eating popcorn beside the Blu-Ray? Considering dogs can choke on popcorn kernels, that's not something I think should be done in a trailer, which was SUPPOSED to be about the Blu-Ray, but was barely even relevant to it.

Here are some funny GIFs from the trailer:

[sumpter360]

I forget, did the Level sets get any commercials at all?

If FUNimation thinks this commercial will overcome the awful footage, just imagine how people would buy if it was accompanied by a worthwhile product.

[penguintruth]

I don't need to upgrade, Funimation. I have the Dragon Boxes. There doesn't exist an upgrade from that yet. There could, at some point (if Toei can get all of that original footage as broadcast), but even then I doubt I'll be buying the show again even then.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'm just curious why you would ever line up the Orange Bricks like that without taking off their slip covers... >_>

*raises hand* I hate not being able to see the side-art I'll admit, but I don't want to get rid of the slipcovers either. ^_^;

Also, Gaffer - might I ask you to elaborate on what you dislike so much about the music? I'm not calling you out on it or anything, I'm not really liking it either, but it also doesn't make my ears bleed either. It actually kind of reminds me of some of the music from LittleBigPlanet, only not as good. I'm just curious.

[Gaffer Tape]

Eh, if I had the orange bricks, I'd much rather display them like that than that weird-looking picture that requires you to dispose of the slipcovers. I have my Dragon Boxes lined up with the outside spine rather than its picture. I just find it easier and more professional-looking to be able to tell at a glance what I'm looking at. And as for the commercial, I believe that's very likely the justification. With the info spines lined up, you can immediately tell what you're looking at, even if you've somehow been lucky enough to never have seen the orange bricks before. They're instantly recognizable as DBZ DVD sets. But with the spine art... well, it's a DBZ logo. Um... hmm, what the hell are those supposed to be?

As for the music, it's hard for me to say exactly what bugs me about it, but it just doesn't... hmm... doesn't really sound like music. It just sounds like a bunch of loud, atonal noise.

[LordCrumb]

I'm just curious why you would ever line up the Orange Bricks like that without taking off their slip covers... >_>

People take their slipcovers off? They are what help protect the digipacks, and they are also very collectible in certain circuits.

[Ringworm128]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhe3vSe-mmw
It's like a cross between one of those "family fun time" Nintendo commercials and some indie hipster music video.

As for the music, it's hard for me to say exactly what bugs me about it, but it just doesn't... hmm... doesn't really sound like music. It just sounds like a bunch of loud, atonal noise.

Sounds like music to me, it just has a more rough sound and rhythm compared to what we usually hear.

[dbboxkaifan]

I forget, did the Level sets get any commercials at all?

It sure did.

Level 1.1
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIjpES-dkw

Level 1.2
Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9YqC7r1LAk
Trailer 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_5VynMIM8

The Remastering Process of the Levels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

FUNimation definitely had the definitive HD DBZ release but unfortunately they cancelled it.

[dbret12]

I bet you guys wished that FUNi never cancelled those Level Sets. They looked gorgeous compared to the crap at the end of the year. As said possibly before, stick with your Dragon Boxes if you have them.

[ErikB]

I'm just curious why you would ever line up the Orange Bricks like that without taking off their slip covers... >_>

People take their slipcovers off? They are what help protect the digipacks, and they are also very collectible in certain circuits.

Ehh pshaw. I don't own the Orange Bricks but I have the Blue and Green bricks and ditched the slip covers years ago. I want to see the spine image on my shelf and I don't see myself selling the sets off ever.
I don't actually remember what I did with them. I think they might be in my old dresser in my parents' house...

[Super Sayian Prime]

Funimation has some marketing geniuses. By making a live action ad they divert the focus from how awful this footage looks!

[sumpter360]

I forget, did the Level sets get any commercials at all?

It sure did.

Level 1.1
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIjpES-dkw

Level 1.2
Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9YqC7r1LAk
Trailer 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_5VynMIM8

The Remastering Process of the Levels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

FUNimation definitely had the definitive HD DBZ release but unfortunately they cancelled it.

Yeah, I knew they had those trailers, which focused on the quality of the release, but if they'd also had something like this, which IMO is more of a commercial and less of a trailer, more people might have purchased. Seeing a clip of actual people enjoying a product is more personal and "grabby" than a clip that 's mostly comprised of footage of the show. I'd be sucked into purchasing because of this type of commercial. Especially one of this level of nostalgia.

[dbboxkaifan]

Level BD


Season BD


*From YouTube 720p trailers.

It can be seen what FUNimation meant from Past to Future with this comparison, but even still tweaking the HDTV would allow the user to set it to his/her own preference (colours, saturation, cropping and so forth).

The Season Blu-rays so far judging by what I've seen do look pretty nice in its own right but of course it doesn't compare to the Level Blu-rays we had before.

Anyway, I shouldn't have taken the Level BDs for granted.